Archive for the ‘Seoul’ Category

I love a great many things about Seoul. Its people. Its transportation. Its history.

There are five Grand Palaces and I saved one of the best for my last visit: Changgyeonggung. It happens to be the oldest of the Royal Palaces and named Suganggung before King Sejong gave it its current name.

As with the other palaces in Seoul, it was completely destroyed by the Japanese and later rebuilt. Over the years, it has served a variety of functions, including as a zoo. What makes this palace different than the others in Seoul, is how relaxing the grounds are. Many families come here and relax among the trees and large lake-side benches.

The weekend has come and gone, and with it SeoulTube 2010! I had originally wanted to host a gathering in 2009, but never got around to organizing it. I wanted 2010 to be different, especially since there’s been a surge of great people coming into Korea making videos.

I thought it would be great if 20 or 30 people would come out and mingle. That’s not what happened! Instead over 60 arrived at Banpo Park, including a rep from Google/YouTube Korea.

As with my attendance at the 2008 San Francisco gathering, I opted not to take out my camera and just experience the event. I’m glad I did, since this gathering was quite different from that one and others my friends have attended or hosted. What I mean by this is usually 80% of the attendees make videos and everyone wants to make collaborations. At our event, I figure only 20% of the attendees made videos.

That ratio was surprising, but very cool. Because I really wanted to reach out and meet the viewing audience. As YouTubers, one can see view counts and read/respond to comments, but rarely do you ever see and interact with someone who doesn’t make videos. Having this opportunity to sit down and get to know people made everything worth while.

The other amazing thing about the event, was that we had people traveling from all over Korea to gather. I was thrilled to finally meet people who I’ve been watching for a long time, but were in other cities. I only wished I had more time and the event was longer.

A sincere thank you to everyone who came out and especially to Hyunwoo Sun for making the event a great success.

Today was the awards ceremony for the most recent Korea Brand UCC Contest. Unfortunately, due to my work schedule, I was unable to fully participate; however, I did manage to make it out to Seoul for a while today and meet with the fine folks at the Presidential Council on Nation Branding.

At first I declined to attend the ceremony, not because I didn’t want to meet everyone, but because it takes about 90 minutes to get from their offices back to Dongtan. Since the ceremony was going to be at least an hour, it meant there was no way for me to be at their office and miss work. My solution was to go early (with their permission), and they agreed.

As this was my second award, both parties were eager to put faces with names. When I received my award certificate, it was also shared with all those in attendance that I was a repeat award winner.

It was great to finally be at their offices and mingle with other award winners. There’s an incredible amount of talent in Korea, and the contest brought out the best in everyone. They announced two more contests for the remainder of 2010, and I might enter them as well. For now, I we’ll see how my free times stacks up.

As mentioned on YouTube, I thought I’d answer some of the most common questions regarding my travel videos. I’m going to do that now, since I’ll be delivering my computer to UBASE on Friday for a hard disk upgrade, and I’m not sure when I’ll get it back. Couple that with SeoulTube 2010 and Chuseok (추석) next week and I think you’ll see that I’ll be away from the Internet for some time.

So here are those commonly asked questions:

How long does it take to make a travel video? On average, the 4-minute videos I produce on YouTube with a travel theme take a full day of editing. Meaning that it may take 8 or so hours to produce the 4-minute program.

How do I choose where to go? This is really more of a team effort on Jo and my part. We both love to travel and see as much as we can during the time allotted. This means researching our destinations and scouring over maps to see what may be interesting and off the beaten path. Once we have an idea of where we want to go, we set about researching the Internet and consulting tourism organizations and books for details.

Are my videos scripted? Not really. Based on my research, I know what bullet points I want to cover, but rarely do I actually write out each line.

As always, thanks for reading and commenting. If you’re in Korea, I hope you have a great Chuseok and I’ll see you soon!

One of the questions I get regarding teaching in Korea is about what kind of school programs there are and how to get a good job. This is a multifaceted question, and I’ll try to break it down as easily and simply as possible.

There are two major teaching opportunities in Korea: Public Schools and private academies. While there are other teaching jobs available, the vast majority of individuals coming to Korea to teach English usually find themselves in one of these types of programs. Each has its own pros and cons, which I’ll cover below.

Public schools operate throughout the country and are generally regarded as a safer teaching option. This means there tends to be less issues with payment and contract issues. Most contracts are also during daytime hours and hover around 20 teaching hours per week. In addition, public schools tend to offer more vacation time and an up-front settlement allowance. However, there are some downsides. First, payment tends to be a bit lower than private academies. Second, since schools have long semester breaks, you may be asked to “desk warm” at the school (show up to work and sit for a full day with no work or classes to teach when students are on vacation).

Private academies offer a variety of work schedules ranging from mornings, days, afternoons, evenings, and split shifts. For the most part, you can find a school that teaches class when you want to work, so that you can maximize your free time. For example, I like having my days free, so I work evenings. Second, pay tends to be slightly higher than at public schools. Classroom hours vary, but can be up to 30 teaching hours per week. There can also be several problems at private academies. Some organizations are not above-board and try to cheat their employees by not abiding to the terms of the employment contract (longer hours, no overtime, late salary payment, etc.). This can be seen on several discussion boards. Furthermore, vacation time usually holds fast at two weeks per year. There are fewer problems when working for a large franchise, as they are very brand conscious.

When selecting the kind of job to apply for, really think about what age group you want to work with and what hours you’re willing to put into the classroom. Once you’ve done that, then you can start looking for a job. Probably the best way to get a good job (either at a public school or private academy) is to find someone online that likes where they are teaching and ask them how they got the job. The will usually point you to a recruiter and you can navigate from there. In some cases, you just might be in luck and the school will have an opening just for you.

One of the things I try to do with my travel videos is to make them fun, interesting, and educational. When I returned from holiday this summer, I saw that Experience Korea had launched its Season 3 competition, focusing on traveling in Korea.

With only a day to prepare an entry, I opted to submit my Wongudan video.

I was notified last evening that it was selected as one of the honorable mentions in the competition. I am extremely grateful for this distinction and plan to continue making shorts that extols Korea’s hidden treasures!

One of the questions I am most often asked is, “What is it like to live in Korea?” I find it incredibly hard to answer that question, since I believe you get out of life what you put into it. I hope this video does a better job showing what life is like in Korea, at least from my perspective.

It’s high time the Land of the Morning Calm hosts a YouTube Gathering, and what better place than Seoul- the nation’s capital.

Come join myself and cohost Hyunwoo Sun (ever4one) as we host SeoulTube 2010 right on the Han river at Banpo Hangang Park.

We’re planning on starting around 5pm on September 25th, so bring some food and beverages to enjoy while meeting others that utilize our favorite site. So come one, come all to this gathering whether you make videos or just enjoy watching them!